Update 2:17 p.m. 5/3/2018: This weekend’s scheduled work between U.S. 50 and Va. 123 has been postponed due to weather, and will happen at a later date, VDOT’s Michelle Holland said.

WASHINGTON — The red paint marking shoulder lanes that for the last few years have opened any time traffic backs up on Interstate 66 outside the Capital Beltway, Virginia, is being peeled off in multiple stretches this month, as years of construction lane shifts ramp up.

In addition to the areas where concrete barriers have already been placed to narrow lanes or shift traffic as part of toll lane construction, work Friday and Saturday nights is scheduled to remove the “red x” lane from eastbound I-66 between U.S. 50 and Virginia Route 123.

This weekend’s work is scheduled to block lanes starting 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

“Drivers are advised that once this lane shift is implemented, the ‘red X’ signs between U.S. Route 50 and Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road), which are part of VDOT’s Active Traffic Management system, will be transitioned out of service,” a Virginia Department of Transportation advisory said.

For now, the signs that allow for the remaining portion of the “red x” lanes to be opened when traffic backs up outside of the typical rush hour will remain in place on a stretch east of Route 123.

In some other locations, the paint has already been ground off the pavement.

PRTC OmniRide buses serving Gainesville and Manassas will be 50 percent off from Monday, May 10, through the end of construction.

That means one-way fares on commuter buses to the Pentagon and other inside-the-Beltway locations will drop from $6.90 to $3.45. Fares for PRTC buses from the Manassas area to end-of-line Metro stations will drop from $3.45 to $1.75.

Loudoun County Transit is offering free rides to Metro stations this month and Fairfax Connector plans some fare discounts soon.

Route 28 construction shifts now in place

Additional construction barriers were scheduled to be set up overnight Wednesday into Thursday along Virginia Route 28 between Westfields Boulevard and Braddock Road — essentially the entire section of Route 28 near I-66.